RIT's Pep Band

As the Rochester Institute of Technology began to transition the Men’s Ice Hockey team to a Division 1 program, some additions had to be made to the program.One of those additions was a new pep band that would play at all home games in the historic Ritter Arena.In my opinion, a Division 1 sports team has to have some type of band playing to create an atmosphere of school spirit.The RIT pep band has done just that for the Men’s Ice Hockey team!

The pep band was formed and began playing at the hockey games in the 2006-2007 season.They started with just 15-20 RIT students with a background in playing some type of instrument.In the second year about 45-50 RIT students participated; while we will have 60-70 students actively playing in the pep band this year.Similar to any club at RIT, finding funding was the first task for the new club.Some funding came from the StudentLifeCenter but most needed to come from outside sources.Some of the fundraising endeavors of the past and future include a guitar hero event and a tie dye fundraiser.The tie dye fundraiser will be held in a couple weeks and will give the RIT student body an opportunity to grab a RIT tie dye to wear to the games.

The pep band consists of many instruments to create that much needed atmosphere of school spirit at the hockey games.Included instruments are drums/marching drums, electric guitar/bass, electric violin, French horns, flutes, clarinets, saxophone, trumpets, trombone, alto, baronets, and the all important conductor.The conductor is decided by a group vote as only one person can be the conductor of the pep band.The conductor this year will be Michael Polimeni as voted on by the group.

A special thanks to Mark Negro, who provided me with all this information.Please help with funding for this important group that we have on the RIT campus.Donate an instrument, buy a tie dye, or just stop over during a hockey game and give all the members of the group a huge thank you!These students have decided to devote their spare time to playing at the hockey games and creating an atmosphere of RIT school spirit; we need to show them our appreciation!